Date Thesis Awarded

4-2015

Access Type

Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only

Degree Name

Bachelors of Arts (BA)

Department

Global Studies

Advisor

Francis Tanglao-Aguas

Committee Members

Mark Lerman

Lynn Weiss

Rodney B. Ferrao

Abstract

In my one-person performance Coming Out Asian American, the racialized body is placed in deracinated space and time where identity is fluidly navigated as history moves and is exchanged. I contend that Asian American identity is ambiguous, schizophrenic, and complex, and the medium of staged performance allows for the exploration of the affective body as a site for cultural/historical memory, exchange, and re-imagination. In the play, Coming Out Asian American, theater and performance are used to create a counter-monument that challenges the dominant Western mainstream discourse. At the same time, I utilize performance to find agency and liberation in the telling of my transnational, and polycultural story on liminal abjection to add to the greater Asian American communal narrative.

Recommended Citation

Hsu, Jonathon I., "Performativity of Abject Identity: Jonathon Hsu’s Coming Out Asian American" (2015). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 207.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/207